I'm OK, Are YOU?

July 30, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new report
indicates that a quarter of the American workforce
experiences at least one mental or substance abuse disorder
each year - and it has a multi-billion dollar price tag for
employers.

The report, which drew from National Comorbidity Survey
and the National Mortality Followback Survey data, found
companies pay more than $17 billion a year in
“unproductive” wages to workers with mental disorders.

Production Impact

However, according to the report in HealthScoutNews,
less than a third of that total goes to pay workers who
miss workdays because of their substance abuse. The
bulk, some $12 billion, is lost because productivity
declines due to the illness.

“The rates are extremely high,” says Robin Hertz, study
author and a senior director of population studies at
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group. “As a nation, we have to be
more attentive to these types of problems. There is a
mythology out there that if you are at work you are
healthy. That is not really true.”

The most common mental disorders among workers aged 18
to 54 are:

alcohol abuse or dependence – 9%

major depression – 8%

social phobia – 7%

Self Assessment

And the costs aren’t just borne by others. The
study found that men and women with mental disorders earn
on average 22% less than people without mental
disorders.

Not that the sources of the problem are always
evident. Roughly two-thirds of the 28 million workers
who have a mental disorder have never had that condition
officially diagnosed – and just 14% of workers with mental
disorders have been treated in the prior year, according to
the report.